January 20, 2011

Golf~ A Spiritual Path?

I apologize in advance for anyone who is reading this blog who is not a golfer. I just returned from a ladies tournament at Bay Hill (Arnie Palmer's course). I did not play well. To be precise, I played terribly! The game of golf was once a joyful event for me -- played for fun and an opportunity to be in the fresh air on beautiful land. In other words, I did not take the game too seriously. That is until I was "bitten". Once bitten, golf all of a sudden turned into a game of "great expectations" (most of them entirely unrealistic given that my first name is not Annika)!

Joseph Parent, the author of Zen Golf applys the wisdom of Buddhist teachings to the game of golf. I am only on page 49 and very little wisdom is seeping into my game. In fact, I seem to be getting worse, not better. I have decided that golf is an excellent indicator of exactly how far I really am on my spiritual path. There is not another area in my life that I am so hard on myself, so filled with expectations, and become so easily out of balance. In fact, "Molly" my two year old personality often appears on the course; even my husband does not find Molly amusing!

If I read Zen Golf Parent states "you'll learn ways to make your mind an ally instead of an enemy, how to stay calm, avoid mental mistakes, reduce frustration, increase consistency, and lower your scores."

At this point, I'll take any one of those outcomes!